The present invention relates to a method for processing an audiovisual content aiming to censure certain scenes of an audiovisual content. More specifically the invention relates to pre-recorded audiovisual contents (television programme, film).
Among these audiovisual contents, some may contain scenes that are inappropriate for a young public, for example scenes of a sexual or violent nature. These scenes can shock or disturb a young public. For this reason, a warning signage was created, specifically in France, to indicate the target audience to viewers of the television programme or film being diffused. This signage is in the form of pictograms displayed on the bottom right of the screen. The display of this signage informs the public of the content type but does not prevent viewing of the content.
In addition, parental control systems have also been developed to block partial or total access to these audiovisual contents. Among these systems, some were designed to skip sequences of audiovisual content inappropriate for young viewers. The main disadvantage of these systems is that they introduce a loss of information for the viewer as the sequences that are inappropriate for young viewers are deleted. The comprehension of the scenario is thus rendered more difficult for the viewer. For example, if a combat scene is skipped in which an actor loses an arm, the viewer can then be confused, or disorientated when the next scene is displayed showing the actor with one arm amputated though this same actor was fine in the preceding scene. This scene deletion is also uncomfortable for the viewer as this latter does not know who cut the arm of the actor or how it happened. What is even more disturbing is that the viewer doesn't even know if the response to his questions is contained in the deleted scenes. In fact, the combat scene could have been filmed in a way so that the viewer does not see who cut the arm of the actor.
To overcome this loss of information, it is known via the document U.S. Pat. No. 6,115,057 to replace each sensitive sequence by a text describing the action that takes place during said sequence. The text is displayed in the place of the inappropriate sequence during the duration of the sequence. The viewer thus has all the information available and necessary for the comprehension of the scenario. This text can be transmitted in the video frames.
In this method of the prior art, the text displayed during the deleted sequence comprises however a relatively low quantity of words, corresponding to the quantity of words that the viewer can read during the duration of the deleted sequence. This quantity of words is even lower if the text is addressed more specifically at a young public. The quantity of words displayed must therefore be limited to what a child or adolescent can read over the duration of the deleted sequence. Even if this text is then voice synthesized, the quantity of information transmitted to the viewer remains limited and may be insufficient to properly describe the content of the deleted sequence.
It is further known from document U.S. 2004/205334 a method and a system for screening offensive material in a digital transmission. A computer program code within the radio modifies the digital transmission by blanking out a portion of the digital transmission where the offensive material code is located. Alternatively, the user-selected option may request that the radio substitute the objectionable content with a pre-defined insertion signal such as a tone, a sequence of tones, a stored audio stream, or a stored video stream. The digital content is presented to the user with the obscene content replaced by the user-selected option. In this method there is no indication of a text displayed during the deleted sequence which properly describe the content of the deleted sequence.
One aim of the present invention is to propose a method enabling the viewer to be provided with sufficient information on the deleted sequence over the duration of this sequence and that it be simple and inexpensive to implement.